ICTY: TRIBUNAL SEEKS USG ASSISTANCE IN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 THE HAGUE 001693 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR S/WCI - PROSPER/RICHARD, EUR/SCE - GREGORIAN/MITCHELL, L - TAFT, L/EUR - LAHNE, INR/WCAD - SEIDENSTRICKER/MORIN, IO - NARANJO/LEIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PHUM BK HR SR NL ICTY SUBJECT: ICTY: TRIBUNAL SEEKS USG ASSISTANCE IN AMELIORATING BUDGET AND STAFFING CRISES REF: A. THE HAGUE 1592 ¶B. THE HAGUE 1599 Sensitive But Unclassified - Treat Accordingly ¶1. (SBU) Summary: The Chief Prosecutor and Registrar of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) urged Ambassador for War Crimes Issues Pierre Prosper to weigh in with UN Headquarters to help solve two emerging budget and personnel crises that were posing a significant risk to the completion strategy. The first involves the rapid attrition of ICTY investigators to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and elsewhere because the UN has not authorized the Tribunal to offer them contracts beyond December 31, 2004. The second involves the UN's imposition of a hiring freeze on the ICTY, which is based upon the current fiscal year shortfall due to significant member state arrears. The Tribunal warns that the crisis could impact Completion Strategy targets and requests that the USG approach the UN Secretariat (in particular Under-Secretary General Bertini) to seek exceptions to lift the freeze and to allow contract extensions beyond the end of the year. End summary. ¶2. (SBU) In separate meetings with visiting Ambassador Pierre Prosper, accompanied by embassy legal officers, Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte and Registrar Hans Holthuis emphasized two serious problems, flagged in the ICTY's Security Council reports last month (reftels),that are working against their implementation of the completion strategy. First, the OTP's Investigations Division is losing its most experienced and skilled personnel to the ICC and other institutions due to the inability of the Tribunal to offer contracts to staff after December 31, 2004. Although the completion strategy provides for all indictments to be issued by the end of 2004, both the OTP and the Registry emphasized that this does not mark the end of investigations. As in the ongoing Milosevic case, the efficient running of trials requires the maintenance of significant investigative capacity. Departures from the Division are hastened both by the approaching school year (forcing those with families to make decisions on the future now) and by the needs of the International Criminal Court (ICC) for experienced �A;investigators and the ICC's ability to offer greater job security. As Del Ponte noted, "(ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno) Ocampo is hiring our people away." Deputy Registrar David Tolbert indicated that the ICTY is expecting "massive attrition soon" because of the inability to renew contracts beyond the end of 2004. ¶3. (SBU) Tolbert also shared (for USG use only) a June 26, 2004, Registry proposal made to UN Controller Halbwachs addressing the contract extension issue. In it Tribunal Registrar Holthuis notes that the OTP confirmed its proposal of significant staff reductions as of January 1, 2005 -- 66 posts will be eliminated, leaving a total OTP staff of 149 posts. The proposal requests authorization to extend for one year 75 percent of the 149 posts. As it stands, the UN has not approved any extensions because the investigative budget has yet to be approved. Such approval is not expected until late fall, by which point the damage in terms of staff departures will already have occurred. The Tribunal has yet to receive a response from UN to its request for an exception. ¶4. (SBU) The second pressing need of the Tribunal relates to the current hiring freeze. Significant member state arrears to the organization have prompted UN headquarters to imposing a hiring freeze on the ICTY. The freeze has made it impossible to manage attrition, fill critical positions, and to plan an efficient trial schedule. The Chief of Staff to ICTY President Theodor Meron stated that in a joint Fifth and Sixth Committee briefing held by Meron at the UN last week, Japan spoke of its willingness to provide the ICTY with $4.5 million and Brazil offered $2 million. Given the possibility that the USG may soon be in a position to make a similar commitment, the original budgetary purpose for the freeze may have disappeared. (Comment: In an aside, Del Ponte political advisor Jean-Daniel Ruch noted that in a brief visit to the Russian UN mission it became evident that the payment of their arrears was only a remote possibility. End Comment) Though Meron was recently granted an exception to the recruitment freeze for nine associate legal officer posts (P-2 law clerks for the Tribunal judges),the generalized inability to replace departing staff has depleted the capacity of the Tribunal to continue functioning at its "peak of activity." ¶5. (SBU) Comment: The forcefulness, persistence, and unanimity of the concerns expressed by the OTP and the Registry confirm our sense that without redress the ICTY's ongoing budget problems will have a debilitating and lasting impact on their ability to meet completion strategy objectives. Registrar Holthuis asked that, to the extent it would be appropriate, the USG urge UN Under-Secretary General Bertini to accede quickly to the ICTY's requests for contract extensions beyond the end of this year (the ICTY's number one budget priority) and for a lifting of the hiring freeze. Because the departure of investigative staff is accelerating, it is essential that the contract extension restriction be addressed first and on an urgent basis. The ICTY recognizes that with the end of 2004 it will need to downsize its investigative staff, and it is prepared to do so in a substantial way. But unless it is given authority to extend contracts past 2004 to the investigative staff that it will be retaining, the issue will be less reducing the OTP's staff than it will be finding qualified personnel to fill the burgeoning vacancies. Particularly in light of the USG's commitment to the completion strategy, Embassy supports such an approach. Ambassador Prosper has reviewed this message and concurs with the recommendation that the USG deliver the requested demarche to the UN. End comment. SOBEL